By Ashley Morgan
As the press of finals begins, the Harold B. Lee Library is striving to ease the stress by keeping the doors and certain services open a little later. Since Nov. 29 the library has been open until 2 a.m. on weekdays and midnight on Saturdays.
'Serving students well is our number one priority,' said Randy Olsen, university librarian. 'BYUSA requested on behalf of students that the library stay open and we made the adjustments.'
Not all areas of the library will remain open for the extra hours. The areas that will remain open are the Information Commons, Learning Resource Center, general reference, circulation and security.
'The greatest value that is being derived is that the building is open, hence there is greater access to computer resources than there might otherwise be, to group study rooms and simply for many people it is an opportunity to study in an atmosphere conducive to studying,' said Jeff Belliston, chair for general information services.
Security''s Safe Walk program, where security officials walk students to their cars or dorms late at night, will be available late for those who need it.
The extended hours began in 2003. The library originally was going to be open later during finals only, but students requested time before finals week as well. This year, the extended hours end Dec. 16.
'It''s a really good service because three out of the five days it''s been open, I''ve been there until two,' said Michael Papworth, 22, a sophomore from Portland, majoring in exercise science. 'That''s six extra hours of studying.'
The cost of keeping the library open during the extra hours is especially high considering all student employees that stay and work must be paid overtime.
The extra cost of keeping the door open is outweighed by the benefits the students receive from the service, Belliston said.
After finals, the library will curb its hours until Winter Semester begins. The library will open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.